Water Margin people

"This is! The guard of honor for the new magistrate?"

Zhu Dian saw the guard of honor and sedan chairs in the distance, which only belonged to the county magistrate.

"Doesn't it mean that the genius is here!"

Lei Heng was startled, and secretly called luck in his heart, fortunately Shi Yong had already left, if this happened to him, he would have stolen all the money, no one could argue with it.

"Officials cross the border, idlers stay away!"

Seeing Zhu Tianlei waiting by the side of the road, an officer who looked like a guard stepped forward and scolded him.

"The capital of Yuncheng is Zhu Tong and Lei Heng!"

Zhu Tong and Lei Heng clasped their fists together.

"So it's Zhu Dutou and Lei Dutou, my official Zhang Shuye, the new magistrate of Yuncheng!"

A high-pitched voice came from the sedan chair being carried, and then the curtain of the sedan chair was lifted, and inside sat a man in his fifties. He was tall and tall, with gray temples, and his face was slightly weathered. He didn't look like ordinary civil servants. So fair, it seems that it is often baptized by the sun.

"This……"

Zhu Ting and Lei Heng were shocked when they saw Zhang Shuye's appearance. If they were not wearing the clothes of a civil servant, they would probably think that the person in front of them was a military officer.

"Greetings to the county magistrate!"

Zhu Dian and Lei Heng reacted quickly and bowed to Zhang Shuye.

"Why are both heads here?"

Zhang Shuye looked at Zhu Dian and Lei Heng and asked, it was getting late at this time, how could Zhu Dian and Lei Heng be alone outside the city?But he heard that there are Liangshan giant bandits near Yuncheng, which is very dangerous.

"The two of us went out of the city to inspect."

Lei Heng quickly explained.

"Why did the county magistrate arrive today? The official document states that he will arrive tomorrow, and the official is ready to welcome you..."

Zhu Tong asked, he specially arranged the welcome ceremony but it was tomorrow.

"No need to be like that. I came to Yuncheng immediately after I met the prefect in Jeju Prefecture. How is the situation in Yuncheng?"

Zhang Shuye looked at Zhu Dian and Lei Heng and asked.

"Yuncheng is safe now, and there are no thieves coming."

Lei Heng quickly opened his mouth and said.

"There are no thieves coming? How did I hear that Liang Shanbo was very arrogant under the rule of Yuncheng, and even the officers and soldiers were defeated many times?"

Zhang Shuye frowned and asked.

"This... please invite the county magistrate to enter the city, and the little official will call everyone to report."

Zhu Tie was a little hard to answer, so he had to ask Zhang Shuye to enter Yuncheng.

In Yuncheng, Zhu Dian quickly summoned a group of officials to the government office to meet Zhang Shuye.

"You don't have to be so polite. Let me talk about the situation in Yuncheng first. Why is there so much population loss here?"

Zhang Shuye closed the population booklet and looked at the crowd and asked, the key to an official governing a region is the population, and only a prosperous population can ensure the prosperity of the region.

"Why don't you talk? How to explain to the higher authorities when the refugees are everywhere, these are the top priorities!"

Zhang Shuye looked at a group of silent officials and asked, the former magistrate is not here, these officials have the responsibility to manage the place well, how can the population drop by nearly [-]% in just two years, of which [-]% is lost this month Yes, this is a serious dereliction of duty.

"Msg. Magistrate, we have tried our best. Those troublemakers don't know how to repent and want to be thieves. We can't help it."

One person spoke.

"Being a thief?"

Zhang Shuye heard the problem from those words, common people become thieves?He thought that the civilians fled because of the rampant local thieves. How did they become thieves?

"The magistrate, those thugs have gone to seek refuge with the thieves in Liangshan. The villages and towns near Shuibo have already been occupied by thieves. Now all the common people are running to Liangshanbo. This is not only the case in Yuncheng, but also in all parts of Jeju. Same goes for the sides.”

Someone started to explain that the new county magistrate wanted three fires for the new officials to take office, but this fire cannot be burned on them. They have been working hard for more than a year, but the Liangshan bandits are too powerful to be opponents at all.

"Civilians ran to seek refuge with thieves?"

Zhang Shuye only felt that his cognition had been subverted. How could it be possible for ordinary people to seek refuge with the thieves who occupied the mountain as king and wantonly looted?Civilians should run to the government to uphold justice when they see a thief!

"The magistrate, this Liang Shanbo has been pretending to be hypocritical to confuse the common people. After the defeat of the government and army last month, he called the people to cultivate wasteland. The ignorant and unscrupulous people are greedy for small profits, and they left their household registrations and ran to join the thieves!"

Zhang Wenyuan said.

"Tell me in detail!"

Zhang Shuye has been an official for decades, and he knows very well that the small officials in front of him are avoiding the important and neglecting the important, and he can't figure out how the common people turn to the thieves.

Everyone talked about the situation in Liangshanbo, and the more Zhang Shuye frowned, the more he talked about it. Before he came, he had heard that the thieves in Liangshanbo were vicious and unruly, and the local government and army were defeated twice. At that time, the imperial court's allocation of military horses was also a disastrous failure.

But looking at it now, defeating the government and the army is still second. The thieves in Liangshanbo are inviting people to buy people's hearts. They really want to rebel.

"Is what you said true? Why didn't you report such an important matter!"

Zhang Shuye looked at the officials and questioned, the rebellion of the thieves in Liangshanbo was clearly revealed, he had never heard of it before.

"Reported, but..."

Everyone looks at me and I look at you, which means it is obvious that they have no right to report to Tokyo, at most they report to the state government, and they are not accessible to them.

"Tell me about the previous battle. How did the [-] army lose?"

Zhang Shuye sighed and asked. Looking at the expressions of these officials, he knew that the news must have been concealed by the state government. If it spread to Tokyo, it would have a great impact on the careers of local officials.

After learning about the fiasco of Hu Yanzhuo and Guan Sheng, Zhang Shuye's face was already gloomy, and the thieves in Liangshan were far more difficult than him.

"A notice will be posted tomorrow. From now on, various taxes will be reduced or exempted in Yuncheng County. The tenants' rent will be collected according to the regulations of the imperial court. I will sit in the government office, but I will never forgive anyone who oppresses the people..."

Zhang Shuye looked at a group of officials giving orders, almost exactly the same as Liang Shanbo.

"Magistrate, I'm afraid I have to report this matter to the magistrate, this tax matter..."

A group of officials hesitated and refused to implement it. Taxes have to be handed over to the court, and tax reductions require court documents. Zhang Shuye has no right to do so, and a large part of the exorbitant taxes is to be distributed to the people and manage Jeju government. Yes, how can this be avoided?
"Didn't you hear the county's order?"

Zhang Shuye didn't talk nonsense with these officials. It's a common phenomenon that officials are strong and officials are weak. If he doesn't show some courage, he may not be able to suppress these people in the future.

"I was ordered to come to Yuncheng to deal with the bandits in the Liangshan Mountains. How can I let the common people turn to the thieves? What is Yuncheng County with no population? How can there be a large number of people from the county government who turn to the thieves?"

Zhang Shuye saw that everyone was afraid to speak, so he explained a little bit. The taxation of a county is a trivial matter, and it would be terrible if a large number of people were lost.

Although the officials still wanted to object, seeing Zhang Shuye's strength, they didn't speak up in the end. They didn't understand the truth. If a large number of people were lost, tax revenue would also be lost, and they would not be able to make much money.

Watching the crowd recede, Zhang Shuye frowned and looked at the official documents on the case table. Each of the official documents in the past two years was related to Liangshan bandits.

"It seems that Yuncheng is not that simple."

Zhang Shuye sighed, and began to read the official documents from the beginning by candlelight, he wanted to understand Liang Shan's situation clearly.